radio use rights

Opportunities for people to create radio services and use radio devices. Radio here includes all forms of devices and services that purposively use electromagnetic radiation — from garage door openers to microwave ovens to satellite broadcasts. This topic is also known as spectrum allocation policy.

Regulations long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. For many years, a large area of radio regulation has developed based on a consensus that it predominately concerns technical aspects of radio signal interference. Few persons are able to contribute to deliberations thus organized. Yet centuries of conversation and experience have explored, … Continue reading revolutionary ideas for spectrum policy

Just outside of Washington, D.C., Arlington County recently opened a new, state-of-the-art emergency communications center (ECC). The ECC includes a new digital radio system that complies with Project 25. Project 25 defines new standards for interoperability of public safety communication systems. Interoperability is a common issue in the communications industry. Communications standards and universal interoperability … Continue reading cost of digital radio sytems for public safety

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes a right to freedom of expression. Article 10 of the European Declaration of Human Rights does likewise. Regulation of the use of radio devices can restrict freedom of expression. What sort of radio regulation is justified under human rights law? Under the prompting of Open … Continue reading human rights to communicate using radio devices

An important trend in communications policy has been to give persons more freedom to communicate using radio devices. The U.K. Office of Communication (Ofcom) currently is consulting on new ways of defining licenses for communicating using radio spectrum. Ofcom proposes to specify in licenses spectrum usage rights. It proposes to define these rights by specifying … Continue reading rights to communicate using radio spectrum

About the year 2001, 40% of persons in the world lived in countries where there was less than one fixed-line telephone per hundred persons. Good radio regulation can help to foster rapid development of communication capabilities for many persons around the world. Björn Wellenius and Isabel Neto of the World Bank recently posted a paper, … Continue reading radio regulation in low-income countries

With the aid of high-tech equipment not in general public use, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) monitors radiation emanating from a variety of sities, including homes. In addition, the FCC claims legal authority to enter a home without a search warrant, find a device of concern, and collect information about it (“inspect radio equipment”). … Continue reading warrantless searches: the banal and the newsworthy

I applaud important new research from MIT on the frequency attenuation properties of aluminum foil deflector beanie helmets (AFDBHs). This research concludes: It requires no stretch of the imagination to conclude that the current helmet craze is likely to have been propagated by the Government, possibly with the involvement of the FCC. We hope this … Continue reading What's The Frequency, Kenneth?

A lot of ink has been spilled about “defining property rights in radio spectrum.” Unfortunately much of the discussion has lacked sufficient appreciation for physics and for institutions. In “Property Rights in Spectrum: Taking the Next Step,” Dale Hatfield and Phil Weiser discuss some important issues of signal characteristics that have been largely ignored in … Continue reading secure rights to use radio devices